Field of the Invention
The invention is directed to a method and to an apparatus for the cleaning and/or care of floors and/or floor coverings of all types such as carpets, synthetics, linoleum, parquet, ceramic, ceramic tiles or marble, etc., with a single-disk or multi-disk rotary machine.
Great numbers of devices for cleaning floors and/or floor coverings are known. The overwhelming majority of these are constituted, in terms of design and equipment, only for cleaning textile floor coverings and are not suitable for the cleaning or care of other floor coverings such as synthetic, linoleum, parquet or marble.
DE-U-8 304 300.7 discloses a carpet cleaning device that utilizes the electrostatic charging of the dirt particles. Cleaning at elevated temperature is thus not provided; however, EP-B1-0188475 proposes a cleaning at elevated temperature between 40.degree. and 80.degree. [C.] for carpeted floors. A treatment of other floors at elevated temperature is not provided.
Single-disk machines for the cleaning and care of plastic, wood or stone floors are known that are often fashioned with rotating brushes. Such rotary cleaning machines, however, usually do not comprise any means for applying heat to the surface to be processed. When an old layer of polish that has become unattractive due to dirt or abrasion must be removed from the floor before the application of a new polish layer, then this is usually undertaken with a substantial utilization of chemical cleaning agents, particularly with an ecologically suspect, so-called basic cleaner, a highly alkaline or acidic substrate, as well as employment of hot water. The basic cleaner dissolved in hot water was thereby poured onto the floor or distributed with cleaning rags and the dirty layer was removed after a predetermined time with the assistance of the cleaning machine. An uneconomically high employment of manual labor was thereby required in order to carry out this complicated work that is questionable from the point of view of environmental pollution. The action of warm water thereby also decreases quickly given this type of floor cleaning because the water film applied on the floor represents such a slight heat store that an effective heating of the floor layer to be cleaned is not assured.
DE-A-26 15 501 discloses a carpet cleaning machine. This reference discloses a washer vacuum/compressed air/spray and suction system for wet cleaning of permanently laid materials with which cleaning fluid is pressed onto the material to be cleaned with compressed air via a fan nozzle and is in turn immediately extracted by compulsory vacuum. The compressed air can be heated by an electric heater; likewise, the material can be dried by restricted hot air. A substantial disadvantage of this system is caused by the construction that is extremely involved and complicated in design terms; over and above this, effective employment requires substantial experience. Further, great quantities of cleaning agents are required and the drying time is comparatively long, despite heating.